Is Addiction
Really a
“Disease?”
Kevin T. McCauley, M.D.
Cypress College
Orange County,
California
addictiondoctor.com
Is Addiction Really a
“Disease?”
so this is a question about CAUSALITY
“Horvath’s Dilemma”
• Best argument I’ve ever heard against
calling addiction a “disease”
• Addiction is a choice
• True diseases do not involve choice
• The addict can choose not use drugs
• The diabetic can’t do that
• Therefore, addiction isn’t a disease!
Is Addiction Really a
“Disease?”
so this is a question about CAUSALITY
&
this is a question about the nature of FREE WILL
What does it take to get into
“The Disease Club?”
The
“Disease
Model”
The
“Disease
Model”
The
“Disease
Model”
The
Disease
Model
(a CAUSAL model)
The
“Disease
Model”
a powerful
causal
model
But what’s the REAL power
of the Disease Model?
The REAL power of the Disease
Model is that there is no such
organization as
“Mothers Against Diabetic Drivers”
Tourette’s Syndrome
Brain
Dysregulation of dopamine & seratonin
Tics, Coprolalia, etc.
Other Causal Models of Addiction
Moral Model
(cause: sin, temptation, weak will)
Other Causal Models of Addiction
Moral Model
(cause: sin, temptation, weak will)
Psychoanalytic Model
(cause: “addict personality”
“character defects”)
Other Causal Models of Addiction
Moral Model
(cause: sin, temptation, weak will)
Psychoanalytic Model
(cause: “addict personality”
“character defects”)
Social Learning Model
(cause: poor parenting, bad crowd)
Other Causal Models of Addiction
Moral Model
(cause of addiction: BADNESS)
Psychoanalytic Model
(cause of addiction: BADNESS)
Social Learning Model
(cause of addiction: BADNESS)
What’s the Causal Model used in
Addiction Treatment?
Moral Model
(cause of addiction: BADNESS)
+
Psychoanalytic Model
(cause of addiction: BADNESS)
+
Social Learning Model
(cause of addiction: BADNESS)
_____________________________________________
What’s the Causal Model used in
Addiction Treatment?
Moral Model
(cause of addiction: BADNESS)
+
Psychoanalytic Model
(cause of addiction: BADNESS)
+
Social Learning Model
(cause of addiction: BADNESS)
_____________________________________________
SCUMBAG MODEL
What’s the Causal Model used in
Addiction Treatment?
Moral Model
(cause of addiction: BADNESS)
+
Psychoanalytic Model
(cause of addiction: BADNESS)
+
Social Learning Model
(cause of addiction: BADNESS)
_____________________________________________
SCUMBAG MODEL (Tx = Punishment)
Problematic Causal Models
Moral Model
WRONG (ex. Immolated “witches”)
Problematic Causal Models
Moral Model
WRONG (ex. Immolated “witches”)
Psychoanalytic Model
WRONG (ex. “Ulcer personality”)
Problematic Causal Models
Moral Model
WRONG (ex. Immolated “witches”)
Psychoanalytic Model
WRONG (ex. “Ulcer personality”)
Social Learning Model
WRONG (ex. Catholics w/ Cholera)
If ever we could fit addiction into this
model, then it would win admission
into ”The Disease Club”. . .
And now, we finally can …
Addiction is a BRAIN disease
• The brain’s a HARD
organ
• No good tests for
brain diseases
• People with brain
diseases start out at
a disadvantage
The Brain Localizes Functions
• Learned this from
brain injury patients
• Vast majority die
• Some live
The Brain Localizes Functions
• These folks are very
helpful to
neurological
research
• CAT Scans
The Brain Localizes Functions
Mapping the Brain
• Correlating
symptoms of
impairment with
observed lesions on
neuroimaging
studies
Additional
Sports Gland
.SEX
SPORTS
IRONING
PARTICLE
The Cortex
• The Cortex
handles the
brain’s executive
functions
The Frontal Cortex
• Confers semantic
content onto objects
in the world
• Emotional meaning
• Seat of the Self and
Personality
• Love, Morality,
Decency,
Responsibility,
Spirituality
• Conscious
The Frontal Cortex:
Defective in addiction?
• Where drugs work?
• Addict personality?
• Sociopathy?
• Self-centeredness?
• Character defects?
• Immorality?
• Weak will?
• Poor socialization?
• Bad parenting?
But drugs don’t work in the
Frontal Cortex . . .
• Drugs work in
the Midbrain
The midbrain is a scary, spooky,
fascinating place . . .
What does it handle?
- Love?
- Morality?
- Decency?
- Responsibility?
- Spirituality?
- Free Will?
- Conscious Thought?
NO . . . the midbrain is a
way-station for incoming
sensory information on
the way to the cortex . . .
The Midbrain is the SURVIVAL brain
• Not conscious
• What handles the
next thirty
seconds
• A life-or-death
processing station
for arriving
sensory
information
The Midbrain is your SURVIVAL brain
It handles:
• EAT!
The Midbrain is your SURVIVAL brain
It handles:
• EAT!
• KILL! (defend)
The Midbrain is your SURVIVAL brain
It handles:
• EAT!
• KILL! (defend)
•F _ _ _ !
Midbrain = SNAKEBRAIN
• EAT!
• KILL! (defend)
•F _ _ _ !
Midbrain = SNAKEBRAIN
• EAT!
• KILL! (defend)
•F _ _ _ !
Drugs work in the Midbrain
• NOT in the Cortex
(and don’t take my
word for it . . .)
Where do mice self-administer drugs?
Olds experiments:
Olds experiments:
Olds experiments:
Olds experiments:
Olds experiments:
Olds experiments:
Olds experiments:
Olds experiments:
Olds experiments:
Olds experiments:
Olds experiments:
Olds experiments:
Olds experiments:
Olds experiments:
The “Reward Centers” of the Midbrain
Mice preferentially selfadminister cocaine ONLY to the
Reward Centers of the Midbrain
• To the exclusion
of all other
survival behaviors
• To the point of
death
Mice can get addicted to drugs!
Mice get addicted to drugs, but …
• Mice don’t weigh
moral
consequences
• Mice don’t consult
their “Mouse God”
• Mice aren’t
sociopaths
• Mice don’t have
bad parents
• There are no
“Mouse Gangs”
Mice studies separate
correlation from causation
Addiction can exist where
“behavioral” variables do not apply
Moral, personality, and social learning variables
can sometimes go along with addiction
But they cannot cause addiction
What happened in the Olds experiments?
• Somehow
the drug
hijacked
the
midbrain
survival
system
• All survival
imperatives
are now
solved by
the drug
The Drug becomes Survival at
the level of the unconscious . . .
SILKWORTH’S ALLERGY
The addicted brain is
quantitatively different
from the normal brain
(it’s not just a beer anymore . . .
. . . it’s the main way of coping with life)
What causes that change?
What makes the addicted brain
fundamentally different from the
normal brain?
(You’re not going to like this . . .)
STRESS : the causal agent in addiction
Stress changes the physiology of
the midbrain . . .
DOPAMINE mediates the experience
of pleasure
Brain Perceptual Systems:
1. Vision
2. Hearing
3. Touch
4. Smell
5. Taste
Brain Perceptual Systems (all of them):
1. Vision
2. Hearing
3. Touch
4. Smell
5. Taste
6. Linear Acceleration
7. Angular Acceleration
8. Gravity (Proprioception)
9. Blood pO2 and pCO2
10. Pleasure
Stress change the brain’s ability
to process Dopamine (pleasure)
The Brain has a Hedonic “Set Point”
The Dopamine System changes in
conditions of severe, chronic stress
High stress hormone levels reset
the brain’s pleasure “set point”
Change in Hedonic Set Point:
Old pleasures don’t show up
Anhedonia: Pleasure “deafness”
• The patient is no longer able to derive
normal pleasure from those things that
have been pleasurable in the past
Another “set point” in the brain . . .
Change in Hedonic Set Point:
Old pleasures don’t show up
What DOES the midbrain
recognize?
The Dopamine surge causes the drug to
be tagged as the new, #1 coping
mechanism for all incoming stressors …
Now that the midbrain has
found what secures survival …
… how does it motivate the
individual to repeat that
behavior?
Stress = Craving
Horvath’s Dilemma:
• Fails to take into account CRAVING
• The addict cannot choose to not crave
• You don’t actually have to have drug
use for the defective physiology of
addiction to be active
• Measures addiction by external
behavior alone
• Ignores the inner world and the true
suffering of the addict
And the Frontal Cortex?
It’s not that the addict doesn’t
have “values” . . .
It’s that in the midst of survival panic
the addict cannot draw upon those values
to guide their behavior . . .
The midbrain now reigns . . .
And conscious thought becomes constricted.
Addiction Part One:
• misperception of
the hedonic aspects
of the drug
And
• attribution of
survival salience to
the drug on the
level of the
unconscious
THEN . . .
• Then comes the second part of
addiction . . .
• After the midbrain misperceives the
hedonic/survival saliency of the drug,
that aberrant perception is then
delivered via the Median Forebrain
Bundle . . .
Median Forebrain Bundle:
carries the aberrant perception up…
And the next stop?
MFB delivers aberrant perception
of drug’s hedonic/survival salience
to the Frontal Cortex . . .
Addiction Part Two:
• The drug takes on
personal meaning
• The addict develops
an emotional
relationship with the
drug
• The addict derives
their sense of self
through the drug
The Two Tasks of Addiction Treatment:
2. For each
1. To give the
individual addict,
addict
find the thing
workable,
which is more
credible tools
emotionally
to proactively
meaningful than
manage stress
the drug - and
and decrease
displace the drug
craving
with it
With the installation of coping
mechanisms (A.A.), the Cortex comes
back “on-line” and Free Will returns…
Then . . .
The Dopamine Hypothesis of Addiction
Dopamine-Releasing Chemicals
• Alcohol &
Sedative/Hypnotics
• Opiates/Opioids
• Cocaine
• Amphetamines
• Entactogens (MDMA)
• Entheogens/Hallucinogens
• Cannabinoids
• Inhalants
• Nicotine
• Caffeine
• Steroids
Dopamine-Releasing Behaviors
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Food (Bulimia & Binge Eating)
Sex
Relationships
Other People
(“Codependency,” Control)
Gambling
Cults
Performance
(“Work-aholism”)
Collection/Accumulation
(“Shop-aholism”)
Rage/Violence
Media/Entertainment
The Full Spectrum of Addiction
•
• Alcohol &
•
Sedative/Hypnotics
•
• Opiates/Opioids
•
• Cocaine
• Amphetamines
•
• Entactogens (MDMA)
•
• Entheogens/Hallucinogens •
• Cannabinoids
•
• Inhalants
• Nicotine
•
•
• Caffeine
• Steroids
Food (Bulimia & Binge Eating)
Sex
Relationships
Other People
(“Codependency,” Control)
Gambling
Cults
Performance
(“Work-aholism”)
Collection/Accumulation
(“Shop-aholism”)
Rage/Violence
Media/Entertainment
Definition of Addiction:
Addiction is a dysregulation of the midbrain
dopamine (pleasure) system due to
unmanaged stress resulting in symptoms of
decreased functioning, specifically:
1. Loss of control
2. Craving
3. Persistent drug use despite negative
consequences
Addiction
fits the
“Disease
Model!”
Punishment won’t stop drug use
because the drug is survival
• Nothing’s higher
than survival
• No threat matches
loss of survival
• The addict must first
secure survival
before attending to
anything else
• And the survival
imperative exists at
the level of the
unconscious
Is Addiction Really a
“Disease?”
Our actions show what we really believe …
Something very
important
happened when
we were finally
able to call
addiction a
“disease” . . .
If Addiction is a “Disease,” then …
• Addicts are patients!
• Addicts have the same rights as all patients
• All the ethical principles that apply to other
patients now also apply to addicts
• Cannot discriminate against addicts without
violating equal protection laws
• Physicians have a duty to defend addicted
patients from those with agendas that would do
them harm
•Addiction has parity
So the punishment IS the problem . . .
(treatment fails because it’s punitive)
The Parity Test
• A way to check for the justness of treatment
approaches
• Take out the word “addiction” and put in the
word “appendicitis”
• Does your approach still make sense?
• No? The approach is disparate (discriminatory)
• Yes? The approach is just
“Willingness” Requirement?
• “We can’t help anyone who isn’t willing.”
• “We need to see some signs that the
person is willing before we can start
treatment (like abstinence).”
• “Patients need to hit bottom.”
• “They can either take what we have to
offer or hit the road.”
What if we took
punishment out of the treatment?
(Is there a group of addicts we don’t punish?)
PILOTS!
U.S. Navy
Sober Living House?
What’s so special about pilots?
• They love to fly
(flying holds irrational emotional
meaning)
• They are not punished
(full treatment parity and equal
protection)
• They are treated as capable
(rapid return to duty under monitoring)
(not allowed to linger in the sick role)
(experienced in the ways and fun of
“taking personal responsibility”)
The “Disease Model” is a good model, BUT…
• It’s MATERIALIST
• It only suggests PHYSICAL
solutions (pills and surgeries)
• It cannot address MEANING
• It strips the patient of POWER
• It appears to absolve the
patient of RESPONSIBILITY
• It encourages the patient to
seek refuge in the SICK ROLE
• It drives a health care system
that is technology-based,
expert-delivered and
expensive
The “Keep ‘em Flying!” Approach
• Risk management > Zero-tolerance
• Inpatient Treatment
• Rapid Return to Duty
• Extended Aftercare/Sober Living
• Testing, Testing, Testing!
• Peer-supported, Societal encouragement
• Capabilities emphasized over Infirmities
• Not allowed to take refuge in the sick role
• Helped to “take personal responsibility”
Treatment Outcome Variance in
Pilots Treated for Alcoholism:
“The United States Navy enjoys a 95-97% return
to flying status rate in its pilots treated for
alcoholism.”
- Joseph A. Pursch, M.D.
“Since the inception of its impaired pilot
program in conjunction with the FAA and
ALPA EAPs, UAL has an 87% return to flight
status rate in pilots treated for alcohol
problems.”
- Stanley Mohler, M.D.
Questions?
References available on request
Please contact:
Kevin McCauley, M.D.
Sober Living By The Sea, Newport Beach, CA
(949) 439-1949
kevintmccauley@hotmail.com
Please also see: www.addictiondoctor.com
(copyright2003kevintmccauley,notforresale,allrightsreserved)